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The University of Manchester Medieval Postgraduate ConferenceEducation and Ignorance: The Use of Knowledge in the Medieval World c.550-1550

A two day conference at the John Rylands Library, Deansgate: Monday the 6th – Tuesday the 7th June 2011.

Modern historiography has often depicted the Middle Ages as a period of ignorance, dogma and superstition– a period in which knowledge stagnated and education was both restricted to a privileged minority and dominated by the institutional and ideological authority of the Church.

From the Carolingian Renaissance and the rise of the medieval universities to the condemnations of heretical teachings and the intellectual and spiritual ferment of the Reformation, the reality about education and knowledge in the medieval world is undoubtedly far more complex and contested than this picture suggests.

This two day conference seeks to explore that reality
through a diverse range of disciplines and across the full historical span of the period.